Dr. Eli Cook, Senior Lecturer and Head of the American Studies Program at the University of Haifa with a Ph.D. from Harvard University, said in a recent webinar: “The 61 [MKs] Netanyahu is trying to get now is very different from the 61 he was trying to get in previous elections. This is a 61 that is really the hard-core base of Netanyahu. If he gets that 61 there is an excellent chance that there will be some law saying, ‘Oh, a sitting prime minister can’t be tried.’ Or they’ll replace the attorney general. They will find a way to get Netanyahu out of this trial. This wasn’t true before, because even in previous elections where Netanyahu won, he didn’t have the 61 MKs to do that.”
Cook explained that far-right politicians like Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich may very well help pass laws that would exempt Netanyahu from seeing through the remainder of his corruption trial in exchange for high-profile portfolios.
I received the above pearls of wisdom from Dr. Cook’s publicist Monday morning, the eve of Israel’s election day, under the subject heading: “Expert: Upcoming election is a test of Israel’s democracy and rule of law.”
Last week, in an article that’s been reprinted by a slew of right-wing media outlets (Who’s Afraid of Itamar Ben Gvir?), I told you that Otzma Yehudit Chairman Ben Gvir is a successful civil liberties attorney who advocates for freedom of worship in Israel, for everyone, Jews and Arabs alike. I also shared that he has expressed warmth and empathy for homosexuals. I then explained MKs Bezalel Smotrich’s and Simcha Rothman’s proposed reform of Israel’s nepotism-riddled and hyper-activist justice system (Media Ignore Smotrich’s Plan to Repair the Judicial System, Calling It a Plot to Exonerate Netanyahu). And on Sunday I published a very long interview with MK Rothman (Meet Religious Zionist Simcha Rothman, Ben Gvir’s Moderate Ally). These were all attempts to analyze and understand at great length––and may I say, depth––the actual message of this new political power on Israel’s horizon.
You and I know all of Cook’s message is sheer nonsense that blatantly ignores the news reports, projecting instead the good doctor’s world of fear and fantasy. But did you get that according to Cook, there’s a difference in a democracy between one majority of the voters and another? Let’s do the math:
According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, there are 6.2 million eligible voters living in the country today. We’d be lucky if three-quarters of them go to the polls on Tuesday, but, nevertheless, in the end, those 6.2 million Israelis will be represented by 120 Members of the Knesset, making a 61-mandate majority account for about 3,151,666 Israeli citizens. But, you see, Dr. Cook believes that they are the wrong kind of Israelis, because if they win, he says, it would introduce “a real test to the legitimacy of the rule of law and questions of democracy.” And he adds: “These are trying times.”
Poor Dr. Cook.
And, unbiased academic that he is, Cook concludes that the only man who may prevent such an outcome is Benny Gantz. “Gantz may be an election wild card. He may join forces with Netanyahu. Gantz may be the knight in shining armor ‘saving’ Israel from [Ben Gvir] this pseudo-fascist,” Cook told his webinar students and sent the message out to reporters via his publicist.
I’ve noticed in countless debates on social media with Israelis that once confronted with an argument they can’t refute, they resort to name-calling and curses. I know it’s true everywhere on the Internet, but when a Harvard graduate like Cook is cussing, where are we headed?
I’m kidding, of course, they all curse, all the time, leftist politicians, news show hosts, and academics, they didn’t get to where they are by utilizing independent thinking, and so, in moments of frustration, they cuss.
You know all of this. But now, Ben Gvir is also under a cussing attack from the Haredi right, because, you know, they’re hemorrhaging their votes to him. For the past decade, Haredi society has multiplied more than all the Jewish sectors in Israel, except the settlers. But, lo and behold, the Haredi representation in the Knesset has remained stagnant: always shuffling between six and seven mandates. It means their natural Haredi voters are straying into foreign fields, including the national-religious parties, oy vey. This time around, MK Moshe Gafni et al are in a panic, expecting to drop back to their low of six mandates from their high mark of seven––and the culprit who’s been drinking their prospective votes with a blue & white striped big straw is, you guessed it, Itamar Ben Gvir.
Is it any wonder Moshe Gafni has also started cussing? His biggest complaint these days is that Ben Gvir is desecrating the Temple Mount by visiting there: “The Arabs say they want to damage the al-Aqsa Mosque – and it goes against the opinion of all the chief rabbis (there are only two – DI). He subverts the halachic issue that we fought over all these years so people won’t go up to the Temple Mount. He desecrates the sacred place. Like Yair Lapid. The main thing to him is the campaign.”
Nu, nu…
There isn’t much else Gafni can say against a politician that Gafni himself admitted has never acted against Haredi interests. But when you bring a knife to a fight with Ben Gvir, you should expect a gun. Ben Gvir went on Twitter (which Gafni doesn’t frequent, but his voters might), and retorted:
“Dear Rabbi Gafni, apart from the fact that you know you are not telling the truth because I have helped the Haredi public a lot even in matters that did not concern you, I ask: what’s the point of your constant rants? One time you disrespect the Belzer Rebbe, another time you insult Deri, and now me. The Haredi voters are disgusted by your style and don’t come to the polls. Stop harming Torah Judaism!”
As the reporter who crowned Ben Gvir man of the Year 5781 (Man of the Year 5781: The Indefatigable MK Itamar Ben-Gvir), I continue to be amazed not only by this man’s seemingly unlimited energies but by his stunning skill at crafting just the right message, in words or actions.
He was condemned by a united front of leftists and even a few right-wingers for drawing his gun on Arab rioters in Jerusalem’s Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood a few weeks ago. But if you ask me, this was the act of a political genius – especially since all the media, in Israel and abroad, couldn’t resist carrying the image. That picture was worth a whole lot more than a thousand words – it was worth Moshe Gafni’s seventh mandate (God willing). At a time when the vast majority of Israelis across the political spectrum are losing faith in the ability of the Israel Police to provide personal security on the country’s streets and highways, there was one politician who showed he had no problem aiming his gun at Arab rioters. Sure, it was a stunt, show me a politician who doesn’t know how to work a good stunt now and then and I’ll show you a loser.
Why only the other day, Labor Chair Meirav Michaeli pushed back the Late PM Yitzhak Rabin’s yahrzeit to October (he was assassinated on November 4), and instead of running the event at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, she held it at Zion Square, where a few days before the assassination, then-candidate Benjamin Netanyahu carried a furious speech against his rival, accusing him of harming thousands of Israelis with his Oslo deal with Arafat. That was a great Michaeli stunt that got lots of coverage and reverb, except only 1,000 Laborniks showed up. The nights get cold in Jerusalem this time of the year…
Speaking of stunts, in every interview, Religious Zionism Chair Bezalel Smotrich and his allies refuse to reveal which government posts they want in a future Netanyahu government, citing the ancient French adage about not selling the bear’s skin before killing the bear. Well, what do you know, it seems Ben Gvir sold the skin.
In an interview on Channel 14, Ben Gvir announced he was going to demand the post of Internal Security Minister, and paraphrased the late JFK, saying he wanted the job not because it was desirable but because no one else would do it. All I can say is, OMG, Ben Gvir, who learned you all this political craftsmanship?
I, for one, have been advocating for the 46-year-old maverick to get this job, if only to become the boss of Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, who a year and a half ago blamed him for the Guardian of the Walls riots his cops couldn’t stop. But you know, with his political smarts, I’m not sure Ben Gvir is not going for the catbird seat.
